Telehealth hub planned for Yorks and Humber

NHS Yorkshire and the Humber has unveiled proposals to spend £1m on a telehealth hub as part of cost-saving plans.

The strategic health authority has decided to press ahead with investment in a regional hub providing there is enough interest in the plan from its primary care trusts.

A teleheath project, according to a report to the SHA board, would have a number of potential benefits including reduced outpatient appointments and exacerbations requiring hospital admission, increased self care, improved patient satisfaction and higher quality care.

The £1m hub would be funded by the SHA’s Regional Innovation Fund under an umbrella contractual framework which local commissioners could then draw on to support local plans.

It could be launched later this year with the telehealth hub up and running by next January.

However, the board noted that “PCT buy-in” would be essential to ensure the telehealth hub was used by local commissioners.

The hub would be a “key innovation” to support delivery of the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) agenda in Yorkshire and Humberside.

But it would also deliver quality and efficiency gains.

The report by Professor Sue Proctor, director of patient care and partnerships, said there was potential for Yorkshire to be a ‘first mover’ in the UK telehealth market.

Details of the plan follow reports in the Daily Telegraph claiming that internal papers from a number of SHAs reveal proposals for staff cuts, hospital closures and greater reliance on telehealth and email as part of plans to meet the £20 billion funding shortfall facing the NHS.